Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Byrne.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

Members were asked to declare any interests they might have in the business to be discussed.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any petitions received in accordance with Council procedures.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had been received.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any questions, representations or statements of case received in accordance with Council procedures.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no questions, representations or statements of case had been received.

The Director of Housing submits a report to consult with the Housing Scrutiny Commission on the proposed Housing Revenue Account budget for the 3 years from 2018/19 to 2020/21. The budget will be set by full Council in the context of the government requirement that rents are reduced by 1% p.a. for the four year period 2016-2020. The proposed budget includes the final two years of the four-year rent reduction.

The Chair noted the purpose of this special meeting and thanked Officers for preparing the report.

The Director of Housing presented a report which sought the views of the Commission on proposals for setting the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for the three years from 2018/19 to 2020/21, before being taken to Executive and then Full Council.

Key points presented by the Director of Housing in the report included:

• A number of factors had placed the HRA under significant pressure to deliver a balanced budget including the government’s decision to implement a 1% rent reduction over a four year period, Universal Credit, High Value Vacant Homes Levy, inflation pressures and the impact of Right to Buy sales.
• The report recommended that the budget for 2018/19 was set as a balanced budget and set out proposals to address the pressures of 2019/20 and 2020/21 giving time to make the necessary savings which was shown in appendix A.
• It was noted that the proposed increase in hostel rents was to align costs between running the service, of which the Dawn Centre and Border House would be affected.
• The Housing Transformation Programme began a programme of efficiency savings since 2013 which reduced expenditure by £9m a year with the latter phase proposals being required to enable savings to address the budget gap of £3,965k in 2018/19 and £8,028k in 2020/21.
• Proposals for the revenue savings set out in 4.12 to 4.13 of the report and proposed reductions (Appendix C) were noted for considerations.
• The commission were informed that despite all the proposed savings, there would still be a shortfall in savings of £1,130k in 2019/20 and £1,164k in 2020/21 demonstrated in table 2 of the report.
• The expected HRA Reserve position at the end of 2017/18 was noted as £17.3m. Over £6m was set aside to be spent on the refurbishment of Goscote House.
• In the recommendations a HRA invest to save scheme was proposed to deliver new and innovative ways of reducing ongoing revenue expenditure and/or to generate additional income.
• On the 7th December 2017 the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum met and were presented with the proposals for the Housing Revenue Account rent setting and budget for 2018/19. The Tenants and Leaseholders Forum considered and made comments on the proposals contained within the report. The Director of Housing presented the comments and feedback to the commission. (A member of the forum was also present at this meeting).

Agreed; A copy of the comments on proposals provided by the Tenants and Leaseholders’ Forum would be inserted to the report (as an appendices) and feedback provided to the Executive.

Arising from Members questions, the following was noted:

• Explanation for hostel rent increase - This was clarified that the proposed increase was to ensure balanced accounts in this business area with actual cost of running service. Most tenants occupying hostel accommodation were noted as being in receipt of housing benefit.
• Reduced stock levels - Each year 460 stock was noted to be lost through RTB.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 6.35pm